2013-2014 School Year: YSU Now Up to 5 Horizon League Title's

[ValleyTalk]

Would not be surprised if YSU may eek out a 6th in softball. Crozier is a very tough pitcher and they could make a run at it. However, at this point, we are up to 5 Horizon League title's this school year!

And to think just a few weeks back our favorite "realist" posted this:


Congratulations to all of the student-athletes, coaches, and the athletic department for this fine achievement this year. It took quite a bit of time, but to have 5 championships in one year is something to be very proud of! What a great time to be a Penguin!

GO PENGUINS!

[jjysuwin]

It's a banner year for YSU athletics.

When you get off at 422 and connect to 5th avenue you now see new, state of the art facilities. These facilities now give off a fresh new image of not only YSU Athletics, YSU as a University but the city of Youngstown as a whole. And these facilities have helped improve every single program on campus.

Strollo takes a lot of *hit from "fans" on this board. And as you have freedom of speech to say what ever agenda you want supported, I have the right to prove those non sense postings.

The true state of YSU athletics is the best it's ever been in school history. Let's hope whomever the next President of the University is continues this momentum.

 

[OleYSUfan]

Congratulations to the YSU Athletics Dept!

Wow, won the Men's Outdoor Championship, the Women's Outdoor Championship, Women's tennis championship and the track & field teams were awesome with Bobby Grace getting a lot of national attention.

Great to see the progress!!

GO Penguins!! 

[Lets_Talk]

I agree 5 HL Titles in a season is an excellent accomplishment. Having said that, 3 of the titles were in track and field, and 1 in CC. Of those 4 titles, 3 were won by the women's team(Women's CC, Indoor Track, Outdoor Track). All this does is confirm what most who follow YSU athletics already know. Over the past 20 years, the job Brian Gorby, his staff and athletes have done surpasses that by ANY other program, including football. I say this, because T&F and CC have been consistently at the top of their conferences for a much longer time. The 5th HL Title was won by women's tennis. Congrats women's tennis team!

Neither the Mid-Con or HL are powerhouse conferences for CC or T&F, but YSU also does not devote the resources to T&F and CC that are devoted even by schools in the MAC. And, YSU has had some athletes who have been able to be competitve against the top T@F or CC athletes in all of D1. That is likely to continue given YSU now having a brand new outdoor track in addition to WATTS.

What football accomplished under Tressel was amazing, and brought the school alot of attention, and helped the entire community. The run women's basketball had in the 90's and 2000 under Coach D was also outstanding. Each of those programs has dropped off in terms of on field/on court success, while CC and T&F keep going.

Let's look at the other programs though for this season:
Mens CC - Team 2nd...Eric Rupe Individual Champion
Baseball - currently 4-13...5th of 6 teams
Softball : 11-8, tie 3rd, but 4th seed in tournament..currently 1-1 in tournament
Football (I know, not in HL) 5-3, tie 2nd, but 3rd after tie-breaker. Also lost final 3 games of regular season, 2 of which were at home
Men's Basketball: 6-10 in HL, tie 7th and lost in 1st round
Womens Basketball : 10-6, tie 3rd..lost in 2nd round
Womens Soccer: 2-5..7th of 8 teams ... lost 6-2 in 1st round of HL Tourn
Volleyball: 7-7..5th of 8 teams ... lost in 2nd round of Tourney
Men's Tennis: 1-5 in HL ... 6th of 7 teams
Women's Golf: 3rd of 7 teams in HL Tourn.. Aislynn Merling 2nd place in individual scoring (women's golf has had solid record of success in both Mid-con and HL)
Men's Golf: 3rd of 7 HL Tourn: ... Brian Yeo tie 5th....Brandon Pluchinsky tie 7th
Women's Swimming & Diving - 6th of 8 teams at HL Championships ... No Individual Event Champions

[IAA Fan]

You all need to factor in that the HL, in no way, benefits from having one school dominate many sports. All of this comes int play when selecting teams to invite into the conference. YSU got in because of women's sports success, particularly in basketball, in the Mid-Con. Also the fact that we had women's golf, tennis and softball ...something that was severely lacking in the HL.

No team has the money to dominate in all sports of a given conference. If they do ...then they are certainly in the wrong conference. We should all be proud of our accomplishments in the conference for 2013-14.

[Lets_Talk]

Here is a link to the McCafferty Standings entering Spring sports. YSU was 3rd overall. 2nd place in Women's sports, and 5th place in men's. Leader was UWM, and they were 1st in both men's and women's sports. Oakland was 2nd place overall. 2nd in men's and 3rd in women's.

UWM had 5 HL titles after Fall and Winter. So, YSU and UWM are currently tied for most HL Titles this season.
Scoring system is as follows:
7 for a title, 5 for second, 3 for third, 2 for fourth, 1 for fifth. For sports with both a regular season champion, and tournament champion, points awarded are 60% for regular season and 40% for tournament. Only top 5 places receive points.

McCafferty Trophy Standings
1. Milwaukee 40
2. Oakland 30.5
3. Youngstown State 27.5
4. UIC 22.5
5. Green Bay 20.5
6. Wright State 18
7. Detroit 17
8. Cleveland State 14
9. Valparaiso 8

Men’s Sports Totals
1. Milwaukee 17
2. Oakland 15
3. UIC 12
4. Cleveland State 11
5. Youngstown State 10
6. Detroit 8
    Green Bay 8
    Wright State 8
9. Valparaiso 1

Women’s Sports Totals
1. Milwaukee 23
2. Youngstown State 17.5
3. Oakland 15.5
4. Green Bay 12.5
5. UIC 10.5
6. Wright State 10
7. Detroit 9
8. Valparaiso 7
9. Cleveland State 3

http://www.horizonleague.org/blog/milwaukee-leads-mccafferty-trophy-standings-heading-into-spring-championships

[Lets_Talk]

YSU ought to be fairing quite well given the 3 titles in spring sports, along with both men's and women's golf finishing 3rd. The other 3 Spring Sports in HL are softball, baseball and men's tennis. From a quick check of the standings, Oakland scored 5 points in women's golf. They did not score in men's golf, track, tennis and are bad in both softball and baseball.

YSU has earned 20 points this Spring, not counting women's tennis. UWM scored 7 in track. So, that is YSU 47.5 and UWM 47....

UWM tied for 1st in women's tennis and made semi-finals of tournament. So, they will get points in tennis. Only sport left for UWM to score is baseball. Right now they are 3rd place. YSU can still score in both softball and baseball.

[Wick250]

Let's Talk,

For whatever reason, the Horizon League protects the methodology of that McCafferty award like a state secret.  Here is what I found out from uncovering a post from Cleveland State several years ago.  I think that the league still uses this formula, but it could be undated.

Your point assignments are correct, but here are three additional factors.  First, all sports don't count for points; only a school's best performances in five sports (for each gender) gain points.  Also, indoor and outdoor track and field are counted as only a single sport which obviously penalizes schools like us that are proficient.  Finally, you can not just add your best five sports for each gender without this further restriction:

For the men, you must count two sports from among soccer, basketball, and baseball.
For the women, you must count two sports from among volleyball, soccer, basketball, and softball.  You may count three from that batch but not four.

Could the league possibly have made this more confusing?  Anyway they also give recognition to the highest point total for each gender.  Our women should win this by my calculation:

YSU=1st in cross country, 1st in track (counts as one,) 1st in tennis, 3rd in basketball, plus 3rd in volleyball tournament.

Milwaukee=1st in soccer, 1st in volleyball, 2nd in swimming, 3rd in tennis, and 3rd/4th in track

[Lets_Talk]

Thanks Wick. I found the scoring system from doing a search on Google, which led me to a discussion from 2009 on the Valpo fan board. I know it was a long post, and the person had alot of complaints.

This is a BS way of awarding an ALL SPORTS TROPHY.

I guess it makes too much sense to just count EVERY sport in which a school competes, and add up the points?